Home | Login | Subscribe Today!Nov. 20, 2009
 Pharmacy Technician's Practice Pearl from Pharmacy Technician's Letter

Practice Pearl - September 2009

     You'll see more focus on alerting patients to short expiration dates with inhalers...especially those in foil wrappers.
     This is a big deal. Patients need to be able to count on their inhaler to relieve shortness of breath, wheezing, etc.
     But inhalers are vulnerable to moisture in the air...and once water vapor creeps in, the drug starts to become inactive.
     This means shelf life is short. ProAir HFA and Proventil HFA are only good for 24 months from the date of manufacture...Flovent Diskus and Serevent Diskus for only 18 months.
     Many inhalers come in foil to protect them from moisture. But once the foil is off, the expiration date on the box no longer applies.
     For example, after opening, Advair Diskus is only good for one month...Serevent only for 6 weeks...and Symbicort only for 90 days.
     Help prevent patients from getting or using expired inhalers.
     Check expiration dates when unpacking stock or dispensing.
     Rotate stock on shelves to avoid dispensing expired inhalers.
     Use colored stickers to identify inhalers on the shelves that are approaching the exp date. Update these monthly or more often if needed.
     Follow your pharmacy's policy for returning short-dated or expired meds. Some techs pull drugs 3 months before expiration...others need to wait until the drug is expired to return it.
     Use labeling to help make patients aware of expiration dating.
     When applying the pharmacy label, be sure to leave the expiration date visible...on the box, canister, or both.
     Alert patients if their inhalers have short dating with extra "use by" auxiliary labels. For foil-wrapped inhalers, look in the package insert to find the shelf life after unwrapping.
     Watch out for different exp dates for different sizes of the same brand. Ventolin HFA 60-count is good for 12 months after opening...but the 200-count version only for 6 months.
     To help your patients understand exp dates, cleaning, priming, etc, get our handout, Tips for Correct Use of Inhalers.

View Detail-Document #250903
 What's a Detail Document?
 Learn more about Pharmacy Technician's Letter
 Subscribe to the entire Pharmacy Technician's Letter service
Copyright © 2009 Pharmacy Technician's Letter. Illegal to reproduce and/or forward.
PharmacyTechniciansLetter.com

Return to top
Pharmacy Technician's Letter: September 2009; Vol: 3, No. 9
Return to top

Pharmacy Technician's Letter is an independent service, providing unbiased information to subscribers, who are its sole means of support. No advertising of any kind is accepted.

Users of this document are cautioned to use their own professional judgment and consult any other necessary or appropriate sources prior to making clinical judgments.

Our editors have thoroughly researched the information with input from experts, government agencies, and national organizations.

Information and Internet links in this article were current as of the date of publication.

© 1997-2009 by Therapeutic Research Center. All rights reserved. No part of Pharmacy Technician's Letter or its associated Detail-Documents presented either on paper or in electronic form may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from Therapeutic Research Center.

Reprint exceptions:
1. A single copy for personal use by subscriber is permitted.
2. Documents that are Patient Handouts may be reproduced by a subscriber and handed to patients without written permission.
More for SDPhA Members
Useful Links
  
Home | Search or Browse | Index of Topics | Privacy Policy | Email Us
Therapeutic Research Center
3120 W. March Lane, PO Box 8190, Stockton, CA 95208, Tel:(209) 472-2240 Fax:(209) 472-2249
Copyright © 1995-2009, All rights reserved.